Cheryl,

Exactly what do they contribute when almost nothing is made in Australia. Their textbooks are imported, their cloths are imported, their computers are imported.

So most of the money they spend goes straight offshore.

Except for food and rent, and considering the fact that there is an accomadation shortage in most cities, they are probably pushing up the costs of cheap rent.

And "failed to diversify". Nearly everything inside a university is imported. Someone can do the same course through 100's of universities all around the world.

Hi Vanna,

They made direct contributions through fees, through purchasing local retail goods and services, through rents, etc. Most of the money stays onshore and helps generate jobs, infrastructure spends. That money is in turned taxed and contributes to state GST revenues.

You've sort of hit the nail on the head here as GST revenues rise and fall as a factor of consumption (and a formula which I don't understand). Some might say, well that's good for the local kids. Not so. Unis will have to put up fees will to cover the short fall. HECS will go up.

They probably did push up CBD rents up but no more. Most of the 'stuff' you see in a uni is owned by the uni or in partnership with the Gov. What international students take away is intellectual capital - in their heads. We need that badly especially in engineering, accounting, IT and design.

No Cheryl, Unis won't have to put up their fees, what they may have to do is join the work force.

About25% or more of their people could go find a real job to start with, with no noticeable effect on the student body.

Another 30% might have top do something a bit more often. For example they may have to pop in more than twice a week, & do some work.

When students start to think that tutors are merely mythical creatures, it's time for at least some of our highly paid Uni people to roll their sleeves, & do that work.

You only have to listen to the rubbish on the ABC, or read some of the articles here to know that too many academics, with too little to do has a very bad effect on the quality of the output.

One can live in hope.

No argument out of me there Hasbeen. Some uni and tafe students are certainly 'shoppers'. But that's OK for a while. I didn't know what I wanted to do until I was nearly 30.

Also unemployment is 5.1 percent. Where do you expect these kids to work?

One nasty point which King - who sounds like a rabid Tory to me - highlights is race prejudice. Some of the comments on international students (excluding OLO as it's a fine site) are clearly motivated by racial prejudice, eg, Australians for Australia, darkies and Muslims out! Too many people!'

I can understand how some people from the lower middle classes who have spent half of their lives on welfare could easily blame new arrivals for their lack of initiative. But to blame international student is reckless. The fault Brutus is in ourselves.

What about the new trend to set up universities in the country of origin of the consumers? If it is the legitimacy of the university name that is desired, it is more efficient to QA a provider in say India to produce Yale, Oxford or Melbourne University degrees at home. If it is immigration that is desired, there is a separate process for that.

I wonder why the Labor Government changed the visa conditions for international students? Wouldn't it have been easier to fine the culpable insitutions (which unless I'm mistaken were not any of our respected universities or colleges)? Or provide more oversight so real learning was taking place instead of just "enrol here and get permanent residence."

As for the argument of "international students are taking Australian places" - has it been proven? Not every high school student wants to go to university and there are plenty of people who get their first uni degree in their 30s or 40s. There are also plenty of people who decide uni is not for them and choose to do something else after 6-12 months at uni. If I've got my facts right, places in medicine for example are regulated in each State so there would be an argument for "no vacancy" there, but then shouldn't we be looking at finding ways to increase teaching capacity for courses like these if at all possible?

Finally, true, a lot of the goods purchased in Australia are imported, but that doesn't mean that the money goes overseas. There are shops, warehouses, marketing firms, truck drivers, wharfies, accountants etc all employed in Australia that are necessary to get all those imported goods to the consumer.

It would of course be preferable if Australia were able to produce every imaginable product (laptops, books, cars, clothes etc) but that is just not possible or even desirable unless we want to subsidise whole new industries with yes, taxpayer money.

Finally, what better way to make friends with and learn about other countries than have international students live and study in Australia? If they want to stay and become productive members of Australian society, I say: why not?

http://currentglobalperceptions.blogspot.com/